Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed alias Farmaajo. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
A new Somali media law meant to enforce professionalism and safeguard the country’s state secrets from ‘enemies’ has been met with wide-ranging criticism for ‘criminalising’ journalism.
Last
week, Somalia’s President Mohamed Farmaajo assented to the Media Bill,
an amendment from a controversial 2016 law which had been seen by
players as retrogressive.
Farmaajo’s
spokesman Abdinur Mohamed declared “victory” for press freedom and
suggested the new law will enforce some sort of patriotism among
journalists, professionalise the industry as well as weed out quacks
working for foreign entities.
“As we all
know, we have witnessed that due to lack of media regulation, we have
encountered instances in the past where the security and sovereignty of
our nation was threatened by biased coverage and this includes the
coverage of the maritime dispute involving Somalia and Kenya,” he said
on August 26.
He was referring to a case in
which Mogadishu sued Nairobi at the International Court of Justice at
The Hague in the Netherlands. But he did not clarify his assertions of
bias.
The case will be heard early next year.
The Media Law, in the meantime, will enable
journalists to report on public offices without fear of reprisals,
Mohamed said, as long as the coverage is “rightful.”
Abuse of office
“The
Media Law also offers members of the fourth estate protection against
masters of impunity and allows them the ability to hold our public
officers accountable especially on issues related to abuse of office,”
he said.
Besides creating a government
communication centre to coordinate public information sharing, the new
law also creates a public broadcaster, different from state
broadcasters, which will be seen as editorially independent and fair to
all, especially during political campaigns.
But
media lobbies in Somalia and outside the country are pushing against
clauses that could cancel all existing licences for private media and
journalists for a new type of accreditation seen as punitive. Lobbies
argue that there is no guarantee of successful re-registration given
accrediting agencies are yet to be reset up, and those seen as critical
may be denied registration.
Then there is a clause about revealing sources.
“The
safety and privacy of journalists will be at stake if the new law
continues to take effect the way it is now,” Hassan Ali Gesey, the
director radio and Dalsan TV, private stations in Mogadishu, told the Nation.
Revealing sources
Mr
Gesey, who chairs an association of about 30 independent media houses,
SIMHA, said the government ignored their proposals on the sanctity of
sources of journalists.
“The law is a good
start. But we need to immediately review articles 14, 16 and 29, on
registration of media houses, revealing of sources and privacy. We are
afraid of the possible influence of the Ministry [of information] in the
registration. We publicly highlighted these before,” Mr Gesey said on
Sunday.
The law makes it illegal for any
reporter or media house to publish any information that runs counter to
the interests of the country, security, economic, political or societal
set up, even if under threats from the source of the information.
While
this may target militant groups like Al-Shabaab who routinely force
some journalists to report on their propaganda, journalists in Somalia
are wary of being forced to reveal their sources or be held responsible
for publishing confidential information.
Besides,
it doesn’t say which “competent authorities” journalists can turn to in
case they feel aggrieved by the penalties although it creates a media
council to accredit and hear cases against journalists.
Below standards
Omar Faruk Osman, the secretary-general of the National Union of Somali Journalists (Nusoj) said the new law falls below standards set at the African Union and the UN.
“We have
constantly urged the federal government, including the president of the
republic, to align the amended media law with African and international
instruments and principles on freedom of expression that Somalia is a
signatory to so that the country acquires progressive and democratic
laws benefitting all Somalis.
“Our demand
for real media and policy reform remains alive,” he said, calling on
Farmaajo to issue a moratorium against arrest of journalists.
Somalia is one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists.
According
to Paris-based Reporters without Borders (RSF), about 50 journalists
have been killed in Somalia in the past decade, most of them by
militants, although some disappeared at the hands of authorities.
The
RSF, which produces an index on press freedom every year, says Somalia
is at position 163 out of 180 countries polled in 2020.
“The
amended media law contains some encouraging articles but they are
undermined by the criminalisation of journalistic acts, which continues
to the part of the law despite our recommendations, and it does not
decree a moratorium on arrests of journalists," RSF Editor-in-Chief
Pauline Adès-Mével said in a statement.
“Somalia
is still, and will continue to be, one of the continent's most
repressive countries as regards to arrests of journalists. We call on
the federal authorities to go further with media law reform in order to
enable Somali journalists to work freely and without constraints…"
As
the country heads to elections, lobbies fear the Media Law could be an
exclusive tool for state machinery to whip reporters to their tune as it
restricts who can participate.
The Federal
of Somali Journalists, another welfare lobby, said there is an urgent
need to remove “onerous restrictions” while the International Federal of
Journalists (IFJ) called on authorities to admit views from all
stakeholders.
“In its current form, the law
creates an environment of insecurity and oppression for journalistic
activity in Somalia,” said IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger in a
statement.
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